With the new millrace and dams finished GW now had a gravitational force of water sufficient for his needs, but his water supply remained undependable. The millrace often froze in the winter and dried up in the summer. At other times freshets broke his dams and the sides of the race. The new mill could run only about half of each year. The two mills to which GW here refers are the two sets of millstones, each technically constituting a gristmill by itself, although both are in the same millhouse. When GW says “mill,” he usually means the millhouse including both sets of stones or the small plantation surrounding the millhouse.